This requirement is part of the Netherlands Climate Agreement and it applies to both business travel and commuting. The Work-related Mobility of Persons Decree and its reporting obligation aim to reduce CO2 emissions caused by work-related mobility by at least 1.5 megatons by 2030.

The Agreement presents the shift from air to rail as a solution to reduce emissions. It states that all trips for distances under 700 km, where travel time from door to door by train is <150% the travel time by plane, should be done by rail. 

There will be an assessment of the reported data in 2026. If evaluation of the reports shows that the collective target of a 50% reduction in 2030 will not be achieved, the Dutch government will impose norms on a maximum of CO2 emissions per km, with which individual companies will have to comply.  

The members of the Anders Reizen coalition, a group of more than 70 large companies with around 550,000 employees, have pledged to follow the Dutch government requirements to shift to rail and reduce emissions.

Read more about our recommendations regarding the shift from air to rail here.

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Transport decarbonisation is a key pillar of this plan. Among the measures,  the government asks its staff to take the train instead of the plane for journeys that can be made in less than 4 hours by train as from January 2024.  

The French government explained this measure by stating that  “Air travel is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses. A drastic reduction in this mode of travel is therefore necessary to reduce the State’s carbon footprint. To achieve this, we need to promote less carbon-intensive alternatives such as the train, but also by reduction in the total number of trips.”

The State’s sobriety plan has been set out in a circular from the Prime Minister detailing the 20 mandatory sobriety measures within the State. Some of these measure include a 2024 target, aiming at a reduction of 20% of outbound journeys by air compared with 2019. The ambition of this target increases to a reduction of 30% by 2027.  More can be found in the circular under the Measure 5, Action 5. 

Read more about our recommendations regarding the shift from air to rail HERE

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The US is joining a team of progressive countries (Switzerland, France, the Netherlands) also incentivising rail travel for their civil servants. 

The US government is also requiring the federal employees to use more electric cars and public transport when traveling locally.

More details here

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